State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C-I, Brooklyn), a former New York City Police Officer injured in the line of duty by a gun-toting thug, today is calling for stiffer penalties against criminals who endanger the lives of police officers, saying that current laws do not go far enough and that penalties should be increased across the board where the target is a cop.

Senator Golden’s legislation, which is set to be introduced when the Senate legislative session resumes in January, seeks the following

1) Increased penalty for assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon and causing serious physical injury;2) Increased penalty for attempting to murder a police officer;3) Increased penalty for menacing a police officer4) Increased penalty for the possession of armor-piercing ammunition;5) Increased penalty for killing a cop intentionally; and 6) Reinstatement of the death penalty for cop-killers

Senator Golden said, "As a former NYC Police Officer, I have looked into the eyes of would-be cop-killers and attended the funerals of many friends and colleagues. Police officers risk their lives everyday, and those who threaten their safety should know that the law-abiding citizens of New York and their State Representatives will not tolerate such heinous crimes."

In addition to Golden’s bill targeting crimes against police officers, he is sponsoring a bill, (S.4052) designed to get illegal guns off our streets by reducing the number of weapons necessary to be charged with possession of a weapon. This bill amends the existing criminal possession of a weapon provisions to more severely penalize the possession of multiple weapons and the criminal sale of a weapon provisions to lower the number of required weapons and penalize aggregate sales Senator

Golden is calling for the New York State Assembly to make passage of these bills a Legislative priority when session resumes in January.

Golden continued, "I urge the public to join with me in support of the necessary changes that are required to ensure the safety of every man and woman who patrols our streets. For every police officer who has made the ultimate sacrifice, in their memory, let’s protect those who survive them and who seek to insure the protection of the public, and that justice is served in neighborhoods throughout this City and State."